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Sorry Telstra but this is my F@ST 5355 router:
Roughly a week ago I decided to give https://pi-hole.net/ a go having endured yet another ad laden website. All went we'll[sic], installation was smooth and was up and running 15 minutes later.
All that remained was to set my routers(sic) DNS server to the pi's and my home devices would be safe. I remember seeing the option in there for it.
WTF, it was now disabled. A quick google around revealed that about a year ago (June 2017) Telstra simply decided to remove that functionality.
Surely it had nothing to do with the Australian government implementing DNS based censorship in June 2017?
So fuck you Telstra, that's my router you made me purchase. Time to find out how to take it back.
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Sorry Telstra but This is My F@ST 5355 Router
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It's not reality that's important, but how you perceive things.
(Score: 4, Informative) by shrewdsheep on Monday July 20 2020, @02:36PM (23 children)
It is a fact of life that ISPs keep control over the provided modem/router. And probably for the good as firmware updates need to be pushed to customers most of whom would let the router sit there, bit-rotting (me included). If you want more control, put the router into bridge mode (and pray that's possible) and add your own router. If bridge mode is not possible, you have to accept two levels of masquerading.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday July 20 2020, @03:13PM (1 child)
Apparently, there is a silver lining to getting my internet through a small ISP. I can use my own router. Which means, they don't get to magically disable functions in my router.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 20 2020, @04:34PM
With Comcast/Xfinity they appear to retain some amount of control over the cable modem, but virtually none on the router. The router does need to query them to get its IP address, but that's about it. I have been configuring my Netgear routers as I like (closed, open ports, DMZ machines, DNS ranges, MAC based IP assignment, whatever) as I please.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Oakenshield on Monday July 20 2020, @03:48PM (2 children)
My provider charges monthly for their approved modem-router combo but gives the plain vanilla modem for free. I chose the latter. Looking at SSIDs that show up around my home it would appear I am in the minority. I set up PFsense for my router and have a Engenius access point for Wifi and a DD-WRT access point for IoT. There is no external port access to my LAN and my IoT network is totally isolated from the rest.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday July 20 2020, @08:37PM (1 child)
I also use pfSense, on a PC Engines box I put together myself.
My ISP does not care what I run at home. Actually, I am surprised to realise that I don't hate my ISP.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:54PM
Another PFSense user here. I own my cable modem, but my ISP retains control over updates and some config. My PFSense router is mine, with zero access given to the ISP. I then have an Access Point for wifi. In total I have 3 separate networks, wired, wireless, and one dedicated to a VOIP set up.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday July 20 2020, @04:16PM (6 children)
It varies. Some ISPs complain but you can still use your own router.
If you mean modem / router (gateway), that could be a problem.
Years ago I had Verizon DSL and the gateway died. I didn't know if they'd replace it, or the charges, time delay, etc., and I bought one at a store- had in hand same day, back online that night. It worked very well. One day I had some other issue and called Verizon and during the conversation the rep. commented that I "was using a non-Verizon gateway." So they knew but allowed it.
I have clients with Verizon FIOS, Comcast, and a couple of other local ISPs and have a variety of routers in place.
However, in some cases I configure the ISP's gateway for "DMZ" - one internal IP address is wide open- all ports forwarded directly, and a different router at that address.
In some cases I got lucky because the IPS's modem and router are separate entities, so I used an Ethernet switch and several routers- to separate several clients sharing the main line into the building.
Re. firmware: I'm finding ISPs want to replace the whole router rather than update firmware. They might "support" it for a year or so, with maybe 1 or 2 updates, but then "that's no longer supported- you must upgrade".
Anyway, point is: look for DMZ or similar setting in router's settings, then use your own router at that address.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 20 2020, @04:40PM (5 children)
I've heard reps say things like "so, you've bought your own modem - and you're allowed to do that" - I believe there's a law or at least regulation requiring them to accept customer supplied modems...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @06:22PM (2 children)
If it were up to them they would charge you per connected device. Kinda like how the cable companies charge you per connected television. This is what happens when there is little to no competition.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @05:17AM
My ISP does charge per connected device. If you use a router, they charge you the maximum. After getting the bill in the mail and calling to complain, they waived the fee for that month to apologize for the surprise. Luckily, I was never charged for more than one device after "DELL PC" was the device asking for my IP address instead.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:18PM
And if you're old enough you'll remember when the Ma Bell made you rent your phone from them. Eventually you could buy your own but then you had to call them and supply the phone id if I remember correctly. (US)
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @04:08PM (1 child)
Yeah, but the rep. became quite unhelpful, almost snippy, such that I became defensive in an apologetic way. I don't remember if the problem was resolved- likely they were throttling me (which I partially fixed by running a ping job... kept the gates opened up somewhat.)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 21 2020, @05:55PM
I haven't had them become (any more) unhelpful (than normal), or unusually snippy. We get the "first tier" up from the bottom speed internet only and when I run a speed test, I am generally reading +15 to +20% speed over what my plan says I am paying for - no special actions on our part, though with all the devices in the house, I don't doubt that there's a fair amount of "phoning home" keeping the circuit warm.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 20 2020, @05:54PM (7 children)
So? Buy your own and tell them to enable its mac addr in their net if they want your business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @06:24PM (1 child)
The relevant question is how much competition is there?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday July 21 2020, @04:11PM
This ^^^, is the real problem. And where there is competition, it's pretty much oligopoly and price-fixed (that they will never admit to).
Fortunately cell hotspots are a growing threat to overpriced landline monopolies. There are some amazing deals out there now.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Tuesday July 21 2020, @12:39AM (3 children)
Or change the MAC on your own system to clone the original router.
What do you mean you're running something that doesn't allow you to override MAC addresses??
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 21 2020, @01:05AM (2 children)
May be a bit hard if the original router let the magic smoke go.
Happened to me, during a period when power grid bouncing was frequent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21 2020, @02:41AM (1 child)
Did the magic smoke take the MAC sticker with it?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:05AM
I don't know, never looked for stickers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by kai_h on Tuesday July 21 2020, @03:02AM
This is Telstra. They either use PPPoE for legacy ADSL connections, or they use a direct DHCP connection for nbn connections. No cloning of the MAC address required, simply plug in your own router, configure it appropriately and off you go.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mth on Monday July 20 2020, @08:45PM (1 child)
The line "that's my router you made me purchase" from the blog post suggests that the router is not owned by the ISP. If that is indeed the case, then the ISP may not have the right to silently remove features. (I don't know the details of Australian ISPs or law.)
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday July 20 2020, @10:42PM
And what are they supposed to do? Sue them? Sounds like a fine hobby, if fighting expensive lawyers is what you're into.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20 2020, @10:07PM
Depends on the ISP. The only thing my ISP asks for is that you configure your own router/gateway so that it can be pinged/tracerouted by tech support, and it's ok to only do that during the diagnosis period. On their website, they actively recommend running any external DNS(such as OpenDNS) if you're not that advanced, and Pi-Hole or similar if you're an advanced user. Many of their tech support staff actually run OpenWRT at the very least.